The Bird
by Dancing-StarryEyedDemigod
Summary: Just a one-shot i HAD to make -WARNING: My first PJatO. Cut me some slack.- Percy has been gone for months, due to a run-in with, obviously, some monsters. When he returns, he finds out that everyone thought he was dead. What's happened while he was gone?


Hey, this has been rewritten.  
Why? Because I wasn't happy with it.  
But now I am. So ha.

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Okay, i just finished the 4th book in the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians.  
This is the result of me being bored and wanting, no, ACHING to read the 5th book.  
It's a little scenario i thought up, maybe happening somewhere in the 5th book.  
No, i don't actually think this will happen. But a girl can dream, can't she?

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS BELONGS TO RICK RIORDAN.

* * *

**The Bird**

I hopped off Blackjack's back and looked up at a familiar pine tree with the familiar Golden Fleece in its bottom branches, guarded by a familiar dragon.

Camp Half-Blood.

I had been gone for weeks, maybe even months. I had battled annoying, reappearing monsters and traveled alone.

And it felt good to be home, I can tell you that.

"Take it easy, man," I told Blackjack.

_Yeah, yeah. Sure thing, boss. If you ever need me, you know how to reach me._

I nodded and the Pegasus leaped into the air. I started walking.

I was about halfway up the hill when I saw a figure standing at the peak. I started walking faster when I realized it was Grover.

"Percy!" He cried, trotting up to me with wide eyes. "You're alive?"

I smiled.

"Obviously," I said, holding out my arms at my sides.

Grover shook his head and gave me a good, long, satyr hug. "Amazing," he said, then, "Follow me."

So I followed him to the Dining pavilion, where Chiron was leading a meeting.

"No one?" He was saying. There was a silence, and then Chiron sank into his chair and dropped his head in his hands. "How could he have contacted nobody?" He said. "He's a smart boy, surely he would have-"

Grover made a sound like he was clearing his throat.

There was a loud thump from the Ares table as Clarisse stood up.

"I say who cares if he never comes back?" she shouted. "He's a nuisance and he only brought excessive amounts of monsters to camp. Let him die!"

Gasps and murmurs of agreement or disagreement filled the pavilion.

"Um, Chiron?" Grover said.

Someone stood at the Athena table. It took me a moment to realize that it was Annabeth. She managed to change so much in only a few months. She was taller. Her blonde hair was longer and curlier. She was wearing a pink colored t-shirt and plain black jeans, dressed differently from her camp t-shirt and shorts that she typically wore. She looked dressed-up, though the usual beaded camp necklace sat around her neck. The owl earrings she always wore glinted in the sunlight. Her shoulders shook with rage and her face was flushed. She had her hands clenched in fists.

"How _dare _you say that, Clarisse!" she cried, her voice shaky. That's when I realized she had tear tracks down her face. She had been crying. She never cries. Most of the Athena kids gaped at Annabeth, like they hadn't heard her speak in a while. "He was- no, is brave," she continued. "He's risked his life to save yours even though your dad is his worst enemy and you hate his guts!"

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "Here we go," she said. "Do we really need to hear how great he is because he saved a few lives? Or maybe it's just because you're madly in love with him?"

"_Hello?_" Grover persisted. No one noticed him. They were too wrapped up in what the girls were saying.

"He's saved a ton of lives," Annabeth said, ignoring the second question completely. "That takes courage."

"_Right,_" Clarisse said sarcastically. "He's got courage. And I'm Zeus."

Thunder roared in the distance.

"He's got more courage that you," Annabeth snarled.

"He's a coward," Clarisse scoffed.

Annabeth glared, new fury in her eyes. "How _dare _you speak of him as a coward when you yourself wouldn't stand a chance dealing with half the things he's seen. I swear to The _Gods, _Clarisse-"

"ENOUGH!" Chiron bellowed. His anger quickly melted into sadness. "There's nothing we can do but hope that he's still alive. If anyone sees him or hears from him-"

"But, he's right there," one of the Hermes campers said, pointing straight at me.

* * *

Heads turned. Clarisse pouted. Chiron brightened. Grover shrugged.

Annabeth forgot all about being angry and wanting to pulverize someone. She pushed a couple of her half-siblings out of the way and ran towards me. The next thing I knew, she was practically crushing my ribs in the biggest hug she's ever given me.

She pulled away from the hug and smacked me across the face. I touched my cheek, offended, but then I saw she was crying. I put out my arms and she collapsed into me. I patted her back and stroked her hair.

"Hey, it's okay," I said gently. "Everything's okay."

She cried into my shoulder and I heard her mutter something like 'You're an idiot, Seaweed Brain,' but it was muffled and I wasn't sure what I heard. I _was _sure about the 'Seaweed Brain' part, though.

After a few seconds, Chiron appeared next to us. He began to lead me, Annabeth, and Grover away from the other campers, who were, of course, staring at us like this was better than cable.

Who knows? Maybe it was.

Walking was hard while trying to keep a hold of Annabeth. It ended up being easier when we walked side by side. Grover stood on the other side of Annabeth and looked insanely relaxed, like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. And I _know _how that feels.

Chiron coughed awkwardly, standing to the left of me.

"My young girl," he said to Annabeth, reaching across me and taking her chin in his hand. "It is alright. Percy is okay."

Annabeth touched her face where her crying had left tracks. "This isn't me," she said, stronger than how she'd sounded in the pavilion. "I hate what you do to me, Seaweed Brain. Look at me!" She smiled shakily and tears started running down her cheeks again. I felt really stupid then, because I thought she was sad. Luckily, before I could tell her not to be sad, I realized she was happy.

Oh, Gods.

She was happy I was alive. She wasn't mad.

_Well, no duh, Percy._

* * *

Chiron explained that after Annabeth and Grover returned to camp; things had started to go wrong with the ocean along the borders of camp. They thought it must be something with Poseidon and the old Sea Gods, but also figured something had happened to me. I was flattered.

Chiron went on to share how Grover worked tirelessly trying to strengthen the empathy link that he and I shared. How Annabeth would stay in her cabin for days at a time and search for information on me. How she wouldn't talk or see anyone, not even her siblings. Only Grover. Now I understood why her cabin mates looked so surprised when she spoke. They hadn't heard her voice in months.

* * *

After telling me the story, Chiron left us three alone to catch up. Grover started talking about what had happened in the past few months. Annabeth had significantly brightened in a few minutes, and was chatting along with us like her old self. They told me about new campers and old campers, Chariot races and some random fights. And then, Grover looked awkwardly at a watch I just noticed he was wearing.

"Umm... Annabeth?"

Annabeth could sense the urgency in Grover's voice, and when she looked over at him, her eyes went to his watch and stayed there.

"We only have a few minutes," Grover said.

The color drained from Annabeth's face.

"I don't want him to see it," she said coldly, turning away from us.

"But, Annabeth," Grover said softly. "He'll be so confused. Wouldn't it just be better to warn?-"

"No," Annabeth interrupted. "It's stupid. I'll just leave."

"He's going to find out sooner or later"

"No he wont, I'll just avoid him whenever it comes"

"Like that'll work out? You'll never be able to be around him, Annabeth."

"What in Zeus' name are you talking about?" I asked.

Annabeth sighed.

"The Bird," she said.

"What bird?" I replied.

As if on cue, I heard a soft flapping noise, like wings beating. I looked over Annabeth's shoulder to see a small white dove flying towards us. If you looked long enough, you could see glints of rainbow in its shimmering feathers. It landed on Annabeth's shoulder and got itself situated. Annabeth looked pained. Grover looked annoyed. I'm sure I looked confused.

The beautiful bird opened its beak.

"ANNABETH CHASE _LOVES _PERCY JACKSON!" It squawked in an extremely high-pitched tone. I did a double take.

"_What?_" I yelled at the creature.

The dove spread its wings and flew away from me and my friends as quickly as it had come. We were now stationed in a bubble of awkwardness.

"What... was that?" I asked.

Annabeth sighed. "It does that every two hours," she said. "It shouts out random... facts... about me."

"It shouted, 'ANNABETH CHASE HATES VEGETABLES' once, at dinner," Grover offered. "Needless to say, I wouldn't speak to her for a while."

Annabeth nodded. "It's a punishment. A curse, somewhat. From Iris."

Well, that explained the rainbow feathers. But not the bird. Iris is the goddess of rainbows... not birds.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Tried to contact you too many times? Didn't pay every time? Insulted her?" she said dismissively.

I looked over at Grover, who mouthed the words _'I'll tell you later,'_ then turned back to Annabeth.

"I don't remember," she said. "I was bitter. I didn't care. But it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is I'm stuck with it." She looked off to the horizon, where the dove had disappeared.

"Its fact always corresponds with something I'm thinking about," Grover said to me.

It took me a few seconds to realize that that meant Annabeth had just been thinking about me- only me. It was then that I decided I had to stop being so slow all the time.

* * *

There was a rustling in the trees. I snapped my head towards the forest, but Annabeth and Grover didn't bother looking over. I wondered why. The trees rustled again and out jumped a familiar looking girl.

She had elfin ears and green eyes, soft red-brown hair and long legs. She walked calmly over to us and stood with us. Grover leaned over and gave her a hug. Then I remembered. It was Juniper, Grover's girlfriend.

She began talking to Grover about something they wouldn't share with me. Then Grover excused himself and walked off, holding hands with Juniper. I heard her mutter something to him about being '_sooo_ polite'.

That left me alone with Annabeth.

"Cute bird," I said quietly.

Annabeth looked over at me with an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked after a moment, getting uncomfortable under her gaze.

"I think you're joking, but I'm not sure," she said tentatively.

"I am," I assured her.

She smiled and hugged me again. When she pulled away, she looked at me with sparkling gray-blue eyes. Eyes like the color of clouds.

"I thought I would never see you again," she said.

"I'm glad I proved you wrong"

Annabeth laughed. Seeing her smile automatically made me feel extremely happy.

"Tell me something, Percy," she said.

"Sure," I replied.

She took a deep breath. "Do I scare you?"

"Not at all," I whispered.

"Not even a little bit?" She said, lowering her voice.

"Only when you're angry at me. But you're not a coward. I like that"

"You do?" she murmured.

"I do," I whispered back.

"Did the bird surprise you?"

"Well..." I wanted to say no. But I couldn't. "Yeah. But the good kind of surprise. The reliving kind."

"Relief?"

I gulped. I was entering deep waters.

_Here goes nothing, _I thought.

"I thought you might still have feelings for... you know..."

To my intense surprise, the mention of Luke didn't choke Annabeth up. She only sighed and looked deeper into my eyes. It felt like she could see my soul.

"I can't dwell on the past, Percy," she said slowly, a sad look on her face. "I've given up on Luke."

* * *

I wanted to tell her not to give up on anything (even old friends that betrayed you and destroyed everything you used to hope for), but I didn't, because I was too busy sporting a massive grin. Annabeth had finally seen past Luke's charm and realized that she couldn't do anything for someone like him. She saw that she was stronger than that.

"Good for you," I said in amazement.

I was so happy for her.

* * *

I was so happy that the next thing I knew I had scooped Annabeth up around the waist and was giving her a huge hug. She laughed at me and I set her down on the ground and pushed some of her hair out of her eyes. Her storm-cloud eyes locked with mine and she slowly rested her hands on my shoulders, as if noticing I was there for the first time and making sure i was real. I grinned playfully and picked her up around her waist. She yelped in surprise as I turned, spinning her in the air a few times.

When I set my friend back on the ground, I immediately pressed my lips to hers. This time, _I _had kissed _her. _It just felt like the right thing to do.

Luckily for me, Annabeth apparently thought this as well, because she kissed me back. I squeezed her close and kissed her some more. When I finally let her go, she was beaming. The sun was setting, and she looked so pretty I had to catch my breath.

"Well," I said cheerfully. "That was fun."

Annabeth nodded, still smiling. "We should do it again sometime," she said.

I laughed and shook my head at her. She playfully hit me on the shoulder and we started walking to our cabins. Who knows how long we had stood there. We should have kept track of time, but we couldn't. Grover had taken his watch with him.

As we walked, the sun slowly began to disappear. I saw, back towards the forest, a tiny white speck flying towards us. Later, I would realize that I wasn't annoyed by Iris' curse at all.

The bird quietly landed on Annabeth's shoulder. We braced ourselves for it to open its beak.

"ANNABETH CHASE," It squawked. "THINKS PERCY JACKSON IS A GOOD KISSER"

I grinned impishly at Annabeth, who blushed.

I had a feeling a lot of the bird's new Annabeth facts were going to have something to do with me.

* * *

There you go.  
**The Bird** rewrite.

Review?


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